This culture has produced some of the world’s masterpieces in sculpture, notably the bronzes and terracottas of Ife. Different kingdoms had sophisticated administrative machines, political, social and economic systems even if monarchical ones and feudalistic ones. Although the basis of economic life was agriculture, commerce was extensive and far flung. Nor was the slave trade the all important trade, and cause of wars between rival kingdoms, as Victorian moralists pretended in their pratings about ‘the white man’s mission’. Although sufficiently factual and well-documented to be an authoritative piece of work for any academic, the lucidity and vividness of its style prevents it from being in any sense a drab book, and it will be of interest to all those wishing to know more of Africa’s past.
The WeekThe Week Vol. 3, No. 7, 18 February 1965
the 19th Century
The scan: The Week v3 no7 18th February 1965.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive, opens at this page)
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